


Memories Never End

by AwokenMonster



Series: Gifts [5]
Category: 9lives (Band), Hollywood Undead (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Gravity music video, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-12
Updated: 2017-07-12
Packaged: 2018-12-01 08:12:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11482275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AwokenMonster/pseuds/AwokenMonster
Summary: What if J-Dog wanted them to be honest in the music video of Gravity?a J-Dog/Deuce story





	Memories Never End

**Author's Note:**

  * For [HU_shipper](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HU_shipper/gifts).



> Monster: I wrote this so fucking randomly and I could've done better but I tried, right? It's twice the size it was supposed to be but this one's for my little sister, my quickest reviewer and probably most excited reader as well, HU_shipper. Enjoy, sister.

I walked through the streets, looking down at the envelope that had “Hollywood Undead” written all over it. I smiled, camera following me from behind but my smile soon melted. Luckily, they didn’t have to record my face. My expression had dropped entirely, almost slumping as I walked and looked at the cd.

“Jay? You ok?” Johnny called out. I looked up startled. “Yeah… Yeah, I’m fine. I just… I don’t know. Never mind. You should do your part first. I’m not feeling so well.”

“You sure?” Charlie asked but he was already grabbing a bottle, trying to figure out how to duct tape himself into it. Johnny raised an eyebrow at him and taped the bottles for him. Didn’t we have crew members for that shit? Definitely on the fucking set of a music video!

I sighed, the camera crew already moving on to shoot their part and I put down our cd. For some reason, I never liked looking back at the past. We decided to do a music video about it, using all the old masks as well but it just didn’t feel right.

It felt fake.

Two of us, walking together in the intro to symbolise how we started out – forgetting about the abomination that was Shady Jeff, honestly, what were we thinking? – but walking next to someone else didn’t feel right.

It wasn’t…

It wasn’t Deuce. If we were going back to our roots and show the fans we hadn’t forgotten where we came from, we had to include Deuce. Even if he had been the biggest dipshit for years now. I frowned. We should at least show his mask. Maybe we could show his mask at the end of the video?

The guys did a great job at shooting their parts, Danny’s part especially. It was like he just couldn’t look bad in a video or a picture. Even while making a face, he would still be adorable. All of us agreed but he hated it when we called him “adorable” because “a man is not adorable, Charlie. A man is manly as hell!”.

Yeah sure, we all just went “Someone needs nap time”. I’m kidding, we treated him like an angel because his voice proved his worth to us.

“Can we? Can we?” Funny Man asked, practically bouncing like an excited dog. Johnny stuck out his hand to the exit. “We can.”

“What?” I asked, joining them. Johnny repeated his gesture. “We can finally go home. This day took forever!”

“I know, right? God, why was today so exhausting?” Charlie moaned.

“Because we tried shooting the intro?”

“Probably.”

“Can we go get food? I’m hungry.”

“BURGER KING PLEASE!”

“No! I wanna go to McDonalds!”

“Seriously? If you keep performing like today, you’re gonna work there one day.”

“FUCK YOU CHARLIE!”

I cleared my throat. “Hey guys?”

No one was listening, Da Kurlzz was still trying to beat Charlie up for his comment and Johnny was happily chatting away with both Funny Man and Danny on each side of him. I dropped my eyes, feeling foreign. Foreign in the band I co-founded. How strange.

“Guys?” I tried again.

Johnny turned around. “Yeah?”

“Why… Why are we excluding Deuce from the video?”

The five of them stared at me.

“What?”

“Why would you include Deuce in our video? He’s not a part of this band anymore. He hasn’t been for YEARS.”

“I know but… Gravity is a music video where we show all of our really really old 2005 masks. Deuce was with us in 2005. Why don’t we show his mask? I’m not asking to make him appear in the video. Just the mask.”

“Just the mask?” Da Kurlzz asked. “You think Deuce would be like “Oh yeah, you can use my homemade mask for your music video to show the fans you remember me. Yeah, sure. I won’t ask any money for it, credit for it or even ask to be in the video”, he ranted, trying to imitate the nasal voice of the ex-singer but failing miserably, making him sound like a retarded jock. Well… same thing.

I cringed at it. “Why do you still think the worst of him? Maybe he’s changed!”

“Good luck with it, Jay, but if you get Deuce to agree to giving his oldest mask to us for FREE and without his face in it, we’ll put it in the video.”

“You swear?”

“What?”

“If I can get him to agree to that, will you make his mask appear at the end to honour Swan Songs and Desperate Measures with him?”

“Honour?” Charlie chuckled. “Dude, what have you been smoking?”

“Promise me”, I demanded, looking at each and every one of them. “Promise me you’ll make his mask appear in the end if I can get it from him.”

“You’re serious”, Johnny murmured. “Alright. We’ll make it appear if you can get it but be careful, dude. You know he’s a really good liar.”

“I know”, I replied. We continued our way to go get some food and the guys seemed to be happy again. I would get the mask from Deuce. He wouldn’t object to some free advertising for 9Lives, right? Right? I didn’t know. The guys finally agreed to Burger King as we were waiting for our food to get there. I took out my phone to find his Twitter. I frowned.

He was following me?

Back when we split, he didn’t.

Why did he refollow me?

Fuck it, I’m texting him.

_Jay: Hey, what u up to?_

No reply for a while which seemed strange considering the man was married to his phone. It wasn’t coming. I knew it wasn’t. Deuce often just forgot to text back but in my case, he’d just ignore me. I had to call him if I wanted him to give me direct answers with no bullshit. Why did that make me nervous?

Our food arrived and I got up. “I’m not hungry”, I said before walking away and leaving them stunned. I could hear Danny mutter an “Are you kidding me?”

I just walked homewards, taking out my phone and dialling the number I was trying to reach so desperately. I realized I was definitely overreacting but the guys always said that whenever I got passionate about something, I HAD to have it ASAP! Driven by impulse and passion.

“Pick up”, I muttered, phone close to my face.

“Jay, the fuck do you want? I thought not texting you back was an obvious hint.”

“Aron…” for some reason my words got stuck in my throat after hearing him. All of my arguments for him to lend us his mask. It all vanished. “I need to see you.”

“What? Are you out of your…”

“Aron, please. I know you don’t hate me. You’re just sore but I know you still… see me as a friend.”

“Why don’t you play some violin with it?” he viciously replied. “But alright, if you wanna meet, fine. I can’t promise I’ll be nice but I’ll try. Where and when?”

“Now? Do you still live in that apartment?”

“Yeah.”

“Can I come over?”

“Uh yeah… Sure”, his voice suddenly distant as he yelled “Yo Yuma, you gotta get out. I’m having a visitor. Just get lost for a while alright? I don’t fucking know! A few hours? No, it’s not a fucking hooker, you fucking… GOD!”

I chuckled, reaching the building and hanging up. I reached his level and knocked on the door, not knowing whether I had to smile or look guilty. A bit of both and it made me seem like a cougar.

The door opened, revealing a much older Aron than I remembered. I truly hadn’t seen him in a long time. Not even in pictures. Somehow he seemed different. Same him, same face, same body but less… boney? His cheeks were fuller, arms bit more muscular and if I had seen him out in the streets, I wouldn’t have recognised him.

“You gonna come in or what?”

I realised I had been staring at him and cleared my throat, stepping inside his place. It had changed a lot since I last got there. “You got older…”, I embarrassingly said out loud. Deuce scoffed. “Thanks. So did you, idiot.”

“You… You’re not as skinny as I remember”, I said, feeling like I could hit myself for losing the ability to think before opening my mouth. What the fuck was wrong with me?!

“Uh… Thanks? Anyway, why’d you wanna see me?”

I tried to clear my head, avoiding the subject for now. “Is Yuma your… boyfriend?”

“Housemate”, Deuce corrected. “No boyfriend for me.”

“In general or just saying you’re single?”

“Why would you care?” he asked and I realised I sounded way too interested. “Sorry, I just… I can’t believe you’re standing in front of me again.”

“Don’t get sentimental now.”

“Anyway, we’ve been shooting the music video for Gravity.”

“So?”

“It’s a video about going back to our roots. Memories, you know? We all show our oldest masks in it and I was wondering if… we could maybe… use yours? You are a part of our past. Whether we like it or not.”

Deuce raised an eyebrow. “You wanna use my old mask in your music video?”

I sat upright on his couch, seemingly all about business when sitting like that as he took up a spot in front of me.

“Yeah, I think it would be… in both of our interests because you’d get some adverti-…”

“Jay. I don’t need you guys to gain popularity.”

I slumped my shoulders and stared at the carpeted floor. “So… you won’t?”

“Won’t give you my mask?”

“Yeah.”

He rolled his eyes. “I will.”

I whipped my head up. “What?”

“Yeah”, he replied, smiling at me. Not grinning like I was a prey but smiling genuinely. What the fuck? “I like the idea of appearing in your video because I’m still a part of the past. Even if shit didn’t go well, it still happened. We can’t pretend it didn’t.”

I blinked, a feeling of déjà vu washing over me.

_We can’t pretend it didn’t happen, Jay._

_Then what, Deuce? You wanna be my fucking boyfriend?_

_No but…_

I shook my head. “Yeah. What’s the catch?”

“Nothing. What? Can’t you believe me when I tell you I don’t want anything in return for this one?”

“No, I just… Yeah actually”, I replied with an apologetic smile. “It’s been so long since you did anything nice for me.”

“I could say the same”, Deuce countered as he got up and walked to the kitchen. “You want something to drink?”

“Some water.”

“Are you a fish? What happened to a beer?”

“Just water, Deuce.”

“You never let me pressure you”, he chuckled. “Why do you insist on calling me ‘Deuce’ here but on the phone, you kept saying ‘Aron’?”

“I don’t know”, I replied. “I don’t know a lot when it comes to you. How long did you send Yuma away?”

“A few hours.”

“Did you think I’d stay that long?” I asked.

Deuce shrugged. “Feel free to. I’m not sending you away.”

I was more confused than I had been when I felt the urge to call him. Why was he being so nice? So friendly? Better yet, so fucking charming? He was a real host, smiled at me, didn’t seem to intend any malice.

He handed me the water and I eyed him suspiciously. “Is it really water?”

“Yeah!”

“You didn’t poison it?”

He laughed. “No.”

“Why are you being so nice?”

“Because I don’t hate you. You said it yourself. I still see you as a friend.”

“I don’t get it.”

Deuce shrugged, now sitting next to me on the couch as he leaned his head back. “I don’t know how to hate you. I tried.”

“What about all the hate you gave us?”

“I truly hate your band for doing that shit to me but I don’t hate you. I like you.”

“You like me?” I cooed but he looked back at me. “I always did.”

A shiver ran up my spine.

_I don’t know what to do either. I just know I like you, ok? Don’t make a big deal out of it. I just do. I don’t want to be with you. I just like you. A lot._

“A-always? Like… always?”

He shook his head. “Yeah, I know what you’re thinking. We were like twenty, Jay. Forget about what happened then. We live in the moment now.”

“It’s pretty hard to forget what happened.”

“I know”, he replied with a sigh, leaning back to the side and swinging his feet in my lap like he used to do when he was too lazy to ask me to move.

I stared at his feet. “Do you mind?”

He shook his head. “Not really.”

“You never change, do you?”

“I get older. I’m less skinny than you remember”, he mocked me with a smile and I could feel the air changing from exploring, nervous and unfamiliar to the same atmosphere we were used to when we were young and dumb. “Maybe it was stupid of me to say that but you truly changed in appearance.”

“Thanks. You did too… a little.”

I sighed. “I’m tempted to hug you. It’s been way too long since we spent time together.”

“Do it”, he responded, propping himself up to look at me. “Why be shy now?”

“It would make things weird.”

He leaned closer. “Jay, we’ve done way more than hugging so don’t even pretend it makes things weird between us.”

“Why’d you have to bring that up again.”

“Because”, he murmured. “I may regret a lot but not that.”

“What?”

“Don’t make me say it.”

“Say it.”

Deuce sighed. “I don’t regre-…”

I pulled him closer into an embrace. “Quit talking. You’re ruining it.”

“Ruining what?”

“The moment. I kinda hate how you shot me down when we were young.”

“I wouldn’t… shoot you down now”, he murmured before humming at me to get a response out of me. I rested my chin on his head, thinking about it but looking down at the sight of someone I used to know who hadn’t changed one bit, something told me to just go with it. And I did.

I kissed him once more, something we had done a thousand times when we were younger but we were too stupid to take it seriously.

I didn’t remember how long we stayed like that but it seemed to go on forever in my mind. Just us, in a loving embrace, just a few kisses, sharing small memories of the past and basking in the silence.

Until Yuma opened the door loudly. “Deuce, I’m ho-… I didn’t know your visitor was Jay. About time you two got together.”

Deuce scurried away from me, glaring at the guitarist. “Fuck you. He should get going soon.”

I felt slightly disappointed but looking at the clock I stayed far longer than I expected to stay. He walked me to the door, silently and preserved. Almost like he was young again. Young, dumb, in love. He wrapped his arms around my shoulders, stealing a kiss. “I didn’t expect that tonight but I can’t say I’m unhappy with it. I missed you. I missed you a lot.”

“I’d never admit it but… I totally didn’t miss you too”, I scoffed, trying to play it cool but he smiled and sunk his face into my collar bone. “I wanna see you again soon.”

“You will.”

He let me go and I stepped back, making my way through the hallway, looking back at the door from the end. He waved at me and I waved back with a smile, making my way downstairs and into the streets. I felt great.

The guys would surely be home already, it was way too late. I just skipped dinner. I checked my phone, text messages peppering my screen. Great. The five of them were like mother hens sometimes. Danny’s message told me they were at Charlie’s place so I just walked there without reading any other message.

Charlie’s door was unlocked and I walked in there like it was my own home. “Home!”

The guys looked up from the couch. “So?”

“What?”

“Did you get it?”

“Get what?”

“The mask?”

Oh… right. I totally forgot about the mask. “I forgot to take it with me…”

“Then what the fuck have you been doing for hours?”

I shrugged with a smile, raising my hands in an apology: “Fishing up old memories?”

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a comment, they're our heavy fuel


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